| | Let Yourself Go CD Kristin Chenoweth Discography of CDs
 (4 Customer Reviews)
With:Rob Fisher & The Coffee Club Orchestra
Personnel includes: Kristin Chenoweth, Jason Alexander (vocals); Jay Berliner (guitar); Andy Stein, Suzanne Ornstein, Belinda Whitney-Barratt (violin); Jill Jaffee (viola); Clay Ruede (cello); Red Press, Albert Regni (clarinet); Lawrence Feldman (bass clarinet); Jack Gale (trombone); Rob Fisher, Lee Musiker (piano); John Beal (bass); Arnold Kinsella (drums).
Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, New York, New York in June 2000.
Personnel: Kristin Chenoweth (vocals); Jason Alexander (vocals); Jay Berliner (guitar); Belinda Whitney-Barratt, Andy Stein, Suzanne Ornstein (violin); Jill Jaffe (viola); Clay Ruede (cello); Albert Regni, Seymour Red Press (clarinet); Lawrence Feldman (bass clarinet); Jack Gale (trombone); Lee Musiker (piano); Arnold Kinsella, Jr. (drums).
Audio Mixer: Jeffrey Lesser .
Recording information: Clinton Recording Studios, New York, NY (06/2000); Extasy Studio, Los Angeles, CA (06/2000); RPM Studio, New York, NY (06/2000).
Photographer: Kwaku Alston.
Kristin Chenoweth capped a rising career in musical theater with her debut solo album, which found her showing off her well-trained soprano in a collection of show tunes, most of which dated to the interwar period. On Irving Berlin's "Let Yourself Go," she tap danced like Fred Astaire in Follow the Fleet, and she worked up a torrent of comic anger in Jule Styne's "If You Hadn't But You Did." Then, she switched gears, proving herself a potently romantic figure in the Gershwins' "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine." And so it went. Backed by the Coffee Club Orchestra, the resident backup band for City Center's Encores! series of concert versions of lost musicals, with whom she had worked on Strike Up the Band and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, she recreated one of the Strike Up the Band numbers, the lesser-known Gershwin treat "Hangin' Around With You," abetted by another musical theater veteran who had branched out into TV, Jason Alexander. Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan's previously unheard "The Girl in 14G" allowed her to show off her opera training as well as her scatting abilities, and she fearlessly (and successfully) took on the ghost of Mary Martin by covering "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" from One Touch of Venus. Like an elaborate audition tape, the album seemed designed to suggest that Chenoweth could play any sort of part; sometimes the songs themselves reflected this goal of displaying versatility, notably the obscure Vincent Youmans song "Should I Be Sweet?," in which the singer must bounce back and forth between "sweet" and "hot" personas as she tries to choose between them. But whatever role she undertook, Chenoweth revealed more than enough talent to excel on a dazzling first album. ~ William Ruhlmann
Let Yourself Go Songs | 1. | Let Yourself Go, song (from "Follow the Fleet") | |
| 2. | Two on the Aisle, musical revue: If You Hadn't But You Did | |
| 3. | How Long Has This Been Going On?, song (from Rosalie, musical) | |
| 4. | My Funny Valentine, song (from "Babes in Arms") | |
| 5. | Strike Up the Band, musical (second version): Hangin' Around with You | |
| 6. | Girl in 14G, The | |
| 7. | I'll Tell the Man in the Street, song (from "I Married an Angel") | |
| 8. | I'm a Stranger Here Myself, song for voice & piano (from "One Touch of Venus") | |
| 9. | Nobody Else but Me, song (from "Show Boat") | |
| 10. | Nobody's Heart, song (from "By Jupiter") | |
| 11. | Why Can't I?, song (from "Spring Is Here") | |
| 12. | Take a Chance, musical play: Should I Be Sweet? | |
| 13. | Just an Ordinary Guy | |
| 14. | Just an Ordinary Guy | |
| 15. | Goin' to the Dance with You | |
| 16. | On a Turquoise Cloud | |
|
Let Yourself Go Music Review Average Rating: (4.8 out of 5 stars)   Delightful
A beautiful voice which she can use with full expression thanks to her acting ability
Submitted by shevloff (Cape Coral, FL, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Get this one.
I've never heard of this lady before (I don't think she's known in England) but I'm very glad I took a fancy to the C.D. A varied selection of songs and performances.
One to listen to to over and over again.Can say no more!
Submitted by a reviewer (London England)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No I Love Kristin Chenoweth
Kristin is the best singer and actress ever. This CD (along with everything else she's done) is amazing.
Submitted by bwaykrischen (New York, NY, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Kristin Chenoweth is an underrated musical theatre genius.
She's as strong as Ethel Merman, as soulful as Judy Garland, as versatile in her career as Bette Midler, as skilled in opera as Maria Callas, as beautiful as Grace Kelly, compared to Bernadette Peters, and yet she is not like any of them. Kristin is an original, and you will hear that in "Let Yourself Go."
Yes, I am going to be biased in this review. As a young actress/singer myself, Kristin has been my biggest inspiration, so I was basically in love with this cd before I bought it. When I did buy it, the moment I pressed play I was taken to another place in time where things were simple and glamorous. Kristin's fans are aware of her endless vocal abilities and her charm as a comedienne, and those gifts are remarkably displayed in a song written for her called "The Girl in 14G" in which a quiet, mousy type girl moves into an apartment where her neighbors are an opera-wannabe and a jazz singer. Kristin plays all three parts, covering a three-octave range. In "Hanging Around With You" Kristin and Jason Alexander have such amazing chemistry and comic timing together. In other songs like "My Funny Valentine" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?" there is a romance and tenderness that is just so sweet and touching that it will make you want to be in love and/or be a torch singer. That's a performers job, to get inside of an audiences heads and hearts, and Kristin far exceeds expectations.
Look for Kristin on Mandy Patinkin's album Kidults, released September 4th. Also, on The Stephen Schwartz Album, and original cast albums of Steel Pier, A New Brain, and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (for which she won a Tony award).
Submitted by heartandmusic (Arlington, TX, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Let Yourself Go CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart
|
432 
Email a Friend
